Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.7 AVERAGE
3.7 AVERAGE
Interesting concept for sure, but only went so far for me --simply because I thought it was way too long for this type of novel, meaning one without a lot of fast action. I couldn't help help thinking about [b:World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War|8908|World War Z An Oral History of the Zombie War|Max Brooks|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1528312647l/8908._SX50_.jpg|817] a book of about the same length but which was much more gripping, for me at least. Also, there aren't only vampires, despite the title: lycans and other shape shifters are also featured, and to be honest I hate when they mix them with vampires. To me they are totally different, but whatever. One cool thing though, is that it features vamps and lycans from various cultures around the world, which I thought was really cool and, you know, inclusive. That's what gave it the third star.
adventurous
dark
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
3.5 Stars
4.5 Stars for Jonathan Maberry - Junk, and Keith RA Candido for The Ballad of Big Charlie.
V-Wars is basically a compilation of inter-connecting 'accounts' of how the Vampire-virus started. Some accounts are better than others. If not for the two authors listed above, this book would have received a 2.5 at best. The other stories were enjoyable to a point, just not all that interesting.
Jonathan Maberry knows how to write, so I really loved Junk; besides, I am a fan because i know I get good story from him.
Read, but read without blinders.
4.5 Stars for Jonathan Maberry - Junk, and Keith RA Candido for The Ballad of Big Charlie.
V-Wars is basically a compilation of inter-connecting 'accounts' of how the Vampire-virus started. Some accounts are better than others. If not for the two authors listed above, this book would have received a 2.5 at best. The other stories were enjoyable to a point, just not all that interesting.
Jonathan Maberry knows how to write, so I really loved Junk; besides, I am a fan because i know I get good story from him.
Read, but read without blinders.
dark
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
At first I wasn't impressed, but it did grow on me. It's very clearly meant to be a vampire version of World War Z... it's nowhere *near* as fantastic as WWZ, but it's pretty entertaining and insightful in its own way.
This book is an anthology and a novel. The individual authors' works are presented in 2 or 3 parts, as individual chapters. The result is that it reads like a seemless novel told from multiple POV's. These stories a bridged together by Jonathan Maberry's own (interlude stories). Very well done, and now I have a few other authors I want to explore.
Sometimes I read things that are not great. This is one of those. the ideas and some of the stories were interesting but I didn't love it.
Overall it's well-written (although I am really surprised at how many mistakes there actually were). It was a little off-kilter to follow and I'm not sure if there was something wonky with the audiobook version or if that's just how it was written. The jumping from section to section being different characters was fine but there seemed to be some oddities with the timeline. Again, this might have been an issue with the audiobook copy. Some of the writing is definitely heavy-handed though, going from descriptive to nauseatingly over-done as it seems like some of the writers didn't know how to give a good punch with their words and keep going with the story - they had to hammer you over the head with some descriptions or points trying to be made. And, again, I'm surprised about some of the fairly simple things that are incorrect and other things that didn't seem to really make sense. For example - the Statue of Liberty has not been part of New York since New Jersey sued for it in 1998 - 14 years prior to this being published it would seem. Other things such as the DA guy announcing his plan to run for a fourth term on a Sunday. It's pointed out very clearly that he did it on Mother's Day and that's always on a Sunday and it's laughable to think any government worker is doing anything on a weekend. Even then - why is the reporter suddenly so interested in buddying up to him in the off-chance there will be dirt to find on his FOURTH campaign? If there was going to be anything it would have surely come out already in 12 years prior he's already been in office. It was a very poor foreshadowing attempt on the writer's part. The one writer seems to be a relative of Data from ST:TNG because, while they use some contractions, they avoid normal contractions at an abnormal rate that it becomes very jarring and makes it hard to flow with the story.
Given the popularity and the fact that it's headed into a TV Series (although The Passage seems like it was written by a 10-year-old and that got a series, albeit a canceled one) I'm surprised there isn't more to this. Overall, it's entertaining and you get a lot of information on the characters unlike other books that try to jam a whole ensemble cast into the first few pages and thus the reader doesn't know who-is-who nor do they care - this gives us "real-ish" characters although I'd say it's more leaning toward caricatures.
Given the popularity and the fact that it's headed into a TV Series (although The Passage seems like it was written by a 10-year-old and that got a series, albeit a canceled one) I'm surprised there isn't more to this. Overall, it's entertaining and you get a lot of information on the characters unlike other books that try to jam a whole ensemble cast into the first few pages and thus the reader doesn't know who-is-who nor do they care - this gives us "real-ish" characters although I'd say it's more leaning toward caricatures.
Just got busy with other stuff. Pretty interesting book, I was enjoying it. Might take out again to finish, might not.